Cork & Cage
A KNIFE, A FORK, A CAGE AND A CORK
A MORE RECENT REVIEW FROM AUGUST 2022 IS AVAILABLE HERE
Gentrification of any neighbourhood starts imperceptibly. For a while there’ll be just one spot on an otherwise neglected high street that some friends will have long fallen for its charms. But when push comes to shove I’d just prefer to not go out of my way to that part of town.
And then, 18 months later, a smattering of other bars & eateries have popped up there too … driven by the new breed of food and drink entrepreneurs, all very determined, creative and hip. One of the newest contributors to Stirchley’s ‘scene’ is Cork & Cage, positioning itself as a “bar and eatery serving lambic, wild, sour, traditional and modern beer styles, real cider, natural wine and spirits alongside contemporary Turkish food.”
It’s fair to say I didn’t go there easily, rejecting friends’ offers twice previously on the grounds that we didn’t fancy going all that way just to go to a real ale bar. Also my only previous experience of Turkish food had been on a cheap package holiday to Marmaris 30 years ago, from which I came home malnourished after 21 meals of completely inedible food. Rest assured, I appreciate that’s akin to saying you don’t like Spanish food based on an 18-30s holiday in Torremolinos, but that trip to Turkey was a life-scarring experience.
Anyway, we finally succumbed to the suggestion of catching up in a new bar in Stirchley that does food. Clearly proving spin is king.
As they don’t take bookings for food we agree to meet at 7pm prompt. That meant a slightly nervy cab ride in, concerned our trip would result in the worse-case scenario of standing all night and drinking real ale on empty stomachs. But on arrival my quick scan to check there was a table big enough for our party of six also brought the pleasant surprise that it all felt rather sophisticated in a clean, modern kind of way – although I must clarify if you haven’t gathered already - I don’t normally frequent real ale bars.
As a former single fronted High Street shop, there’s just one main room that’s reasonably narrow, but it manages to feel quite airy, elegant and contemporary. It has dark coloured walls and parallel hung pictures above a leather tan banquette extending pretty much down its full length to the bar. Then, the row of square tables and accompanying chairs actually gives it more of a feel of a restaurant, although later on it definitely felt more like a bar.
If I’d arrived blindfolded I wouldn’t have bet more than 25p that we were in a real ale bar. But that’s certainly its primary function not least as there seems to be limited variations of alcohol beyond the 8 beer options on draught … a smattering of spirits, and just one option each for red, white and rosé wine but also an orange wine too, I’d assume to prove real ale buffs can have sense of humour.
Whilst erudite on the ales, the barman couldn’t tell me what grape the red wine was “I do know but I can’t remember”, although he was happy enough to give me a taste. I can’t decide if it’s a risky or bold strategy having just one option each on the wines but it was a pretty decent medium bodied ‘natural wine’ that was on the dark fruity side with a hint of spice.
Simarik provide the mezze style food and each couple picked three dishes. We went for beğendi a mushy roasted aubergine dish very much in the style of a baba ganoush, menemen—egg poached in a tomato sauce with peppers very much in the style of a baked huevos rancheros without the chilli and kuru misket köfte – beef meatballs on salad over which there was a minor spillage of za’atar or similar mixed dried herbs. The meatballs were on the dry side but worked well enough with the other dishes. With an extra egg in the menemen and portion of flat bread (lavas) the food came to £22.20 All in all it was flavoursome enough without having anything at all notable to say, other than the dishes all complemented each other and at £11 a head it’d be churlish to grumble, a view shared by the whole table.
They don’t take cash and you can’t open a tab so you have to pay when you order which takes a bit away from the shared dining experience. Although for our vegetarian companions that was probably no bad thing and they did bring all our food to the table at the same time.
For me the star of the show on the food and drink side of things was actually the post-meal pint of Millionaire – a salted caramel stout (£4), which did exactly what it said on the tin. Having gone with a pint of Auric Session IPA that was the right side of not too hoppy to be a passable aperitif (£4) along with the bottle of red (£24) the total bill for two was £55.
By the time we’d finished eating there was a real buzz about the place, certainly not a vibe I’d ever associated with real ale. Cork and Cage is enticing a crowd evenly spread from 20-somethings to 50-somethings and with no particular old school gender lean and some sharp haircuts to boot. With that sort of crowd, it’s clear gentrification is already well underway – despite the British Oak’s best attempts to withstand it. And there are more bar and restaurant openings in the pipeline with Eat Vietnam opening in the coming months.
I’ll definitely be heading back over to Stirchditch again soon. Turkey will have to wait a while longer.
WORTH A TRY
